Steampunk adventure: MaceTech Industries’ custom KTM

MaceTech Industries’ latest build started out as a 2000 model KTM 640 Adventure, with a water-cooled 625cc single cylinder hidden under acres of plastic. “With that giant coffee-can piston swinging around, the KTM can be a bit teeth-chattering,” says Mace. “Tons of usable torque though, and the bike is very light—despite its looks.”

Mace and his wife worked as a two-man team, stripping the Adventure down to the engine and rolling chassis. The first job was to lower the stratospheric ground clearance of the stock machine, courtesy of Triumph Daytona forks and a KTM Duke swing arm. The original sub frame was a bolt-on aluminum structure, and they replaced it with beefier steel tubing welded into place—creating a one-piece unitary frame.

“My wife began sculpting clay to build the tail section and seat. After about two days of clay work we fiberglassed the whole thing, and started smoothing and bodyworking the final lines.” The gas tank was designed to provide room for the radiators, with room behind for airflow—and it had to run down a very steep backbone. So they used 90-degree bends of muffler tubing to work out the shape, and then fitted and welded them together. “Capacity is three gallons exactly,” Mace notes (11 liters). “Once the tank was built and we looked at it on the bike, it was too chaotic and intense to paint it. We loved it in raw steel, just the way it was.”

The light on the matching tail section was built out of .40 caliber pistol cartridges shot at the range one day, with 10mm LEDs trimmed to fit. The “radiator guards” are slings from Russian Mosin-Nagant rifles, with aluminum panels sandwiched in between. (The saddlebags at the rear are the service pouches issued with the rifles for holding tools or extra ammunition.)

The exhaust is a modified KTM Duke header, fitted with dual mufflers tweaked for a throaty bass note. “KTM seems to focus on performance over everything else and it shows,” says Mace. “Everything is top notch on their bikes—an excellent place to start when you want to build a no-bullshit, bad-ass motorcycle!”

You can follow MaceTech Industries via their Facebook page. And look out for this KTM 640 Adventure in the upcoming Series 4 of Cafe Racer TV—complete with a rather interesting story involving real snakeskin and a reserve fuel cell …